Trump suit against BBC can proceed
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NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump's $10 billion defamation case against the BBC remains on track, for the moment.
A federal judge in Florida ruled late Tuesday that Trump's defamation claim could go forward, though he did not rule on the merits. The publicly funded British broadcaster had sought to dismiss the case.
Judge Jeffrey Kuntz did dismiss part of the lawsuit, tossing out a Trump claim that the BBC's actions violated a Florida law concerning unfair business practices.
Trump filed his lawsuit against the BBC in December. The Republican president accused the BBC of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices related to a documentary, "Trump: A Second Chance?" The 33-page lawsuit accused the BBC of broadcasting a "false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President Trump," calling it "a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence" the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The BBC acknowledged that filmmakers had spliced together quotes from different sections of the speech Trump delivered to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, to make it seem that Trump was directly urging violence.
The broadcaster apologized over the editing, and that was something the judge made note of in his ruling Wednesday allowing the case to go forward. The head of the BBC and its top news executive both resigned. But the broadcaster denies Trump's claims that it defamed him.
In October, a different judge in Florida ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the case by Dec. 11. Lawyers for the BBC had complained that Trump was delaying his appearance in his own lawsuit. Charles Tobin, an attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, "we still haven't been able to depose the plaintiff."
The BBC said in a statement after Tuesday's ruling that it was "surprised by this decision but respect the court's authority and note the case will now proceed to the next stage."
"We remain confident in our position and will continue to respond through the proper legal process," the broadcaster said.
The lawsuit is one of several skirmishes between Trump and the news media during his second term. Through administrative and executive action and sometimes through lawsuits, he has chosen to take a more aggressive approach toward the press and toward coverage he dislikes.